Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A comment that hit home while reads comps this week is that many students, typically teenagers, have smart phones which also serve as cameras, camcorders, gaming machines, calculators, music players, pictures albums, Internet connections as well as texting and email devices. Face it, it is their entire life wrapped up in one device. The power of this is both amazing and frustrating. They have the world as they know it or create it at their finger tips at all times. It is both a beautiful world and a scary world.

When I was young, and that's a bit ago, it is said that one learned about sex behind the barn. now there is no barn and we marginally have something we call sex education in the schools. Where do students now learn about the proper use of smart phones or other electronic devices? It must be behind the virtual barn because we prohibit the use of phones in the classrooms instead of teaching the proper use of them. Turn on the phones and get connected with them.

Besides technology is leaping forward faster than ever with new options and features. I have seen QR code bars on some products but had no idea what they could do. Skip typing the URL of a website or YouTube video. Just snap a picture on it on your smart phone which has a QR decoder program and up comes the site encoded site. This code could be on the back of a calling card or on a 75-foot billboard on the side of a building or embedded in a art project or on the side of a box with a consumer product.

Bring on the smart phone. By the way, I haven't had a cell phone until 5 months ago and I just buy a couple minutes a month as I need them. I guess I need a smart phone. With Internet and camera and QR decoder!